Erdogan says opposition seeking to obstruct Istanbul mayor probe

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday the country's main opposition party was attempting to obstruct a major corruption investigation targeting Istanbul's jailed mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.

Erdogan said the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), to which Imamoglu belongs, was trying to derail the investigation by "shouting" and accusing state institutions of politicisation, in a bid to block justice.

"No matter what you do, you cannot obstruct the course of justice," Erdogan said.

"It is the judiciary’s duty, on behalf of the Turkish nation, to break those dirty hands," Erdogan said in comments to officials of his ruling AK Party.

"In time, the public will see just how far this network, which has entangled Istanbul like ivy, truly reaches."

The opposition, particularly the CHP, says the charges against Imamoglu are politically motivated and anti-democratic. Imamoglu is seen as the strongest likely rival of Erdogan in a future presidential contest.

The government denies any political influence over the judiciary and has accused the opposition of panicking in response to the corruption investigation.

Hundreds of thousands of Turks, including university students, have heeded opposition calls to protest. The protests have been mostly peaceful but nearly 2,000 people have been detained and around 300 of them jailed pending trial.

The arrest of Imamoglu, and the mass protests it has triggered, has sent the lira currency to a record low, fuelling a sell-off of Turkish assets that has destabilised company balance sheets and driven up already high borrowing costs.

(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Ece Toksabay; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Daren Butler and Gareth Jones)